You might not like what I have to say here, but this is MY forum to speak my mind. If you're going to hold it against me, maybe you shouldn't be here.

Wednesday, November 09, 2005

A City of Blue

That's what Lake Charles was to me this weekend, both literally and figuratively. Mostly because it seemed as though every roof had at least one blue tarp draped across it. It was dark when we drove in Friday evening so I didn't really get to see much, but as we were driving to my mawmaw and pawpaw's on Saturday morning I don't really think I was prepared for what I was going to see. On my sister's street of about 11 houses, only one didn't have a tree fall onto it, and the people that live there won't talk to the neighbors because they think the neighbor's resent them. That makes me sad. On the street leading in my grandparent's "neighborhood", there was one house that has been declared a total loss because the tree that fell onto it was MASSIVE and crushed a good portion of the NE corner to the ground. The owner's were there Sunday morning cleaning up the yard so we stopped to talk to them. They are having to stay with family in Moss Bluff (a small town just North of Lake Charles) because there is virtually no rental property in or around Lake Charles.We went to birthday party on Saturday and it was heartbreaking to sit and listen to everyone exchanging stories. All I have is a story about sitting in traffic for 10 hours. Not much of a story compared to people who have trees in their homes, you know?Most of the stores close early now too, that was strange. By 8:00 everything in town is pretty much shut down, and if you do go to a restaurant, you can only order certain things and can only pay with cash. I would be screwed because I never order anything directly off the menu ANYWHERE.As bad as it was though, I kept thinking that it could have been so much worse. Look at Cameron, Grand Chenier, Carlyss and Big Lake...they were practically wiped off the map. I know it's hard for my sister to understand that she should be thankful for what she has, but it was so hard not to stand her in front of one of the other houses that is much worse than hers.